Copenhagen, Denmark - Cities all over the world have vibrant hip hop scenes that are as diverse as the music itself, and Denmark is no exception. Unique to Denmark though is an extremely strong comics scene that incorporates the history and technique of graphic storytelling into their exceptional higher learning programs. Which is why it makes beautiful sense that a top tier cartoonist and hip hop historian, Ed Piskor will be teaching for several weeks at The Animation Workshop in their Graphic Storytelling BA program. He just finished the third volume of Hip Hop Family Tree, so there's no shortage of material and knowledge to be dropped on these young minds.

To finish up his Danish travels abroad, Piskor will roll out of town in stylish thunder with a live conversation and drawing battle with some of Denmarks heavyweight cartoonist talents. On February 28th, find yourself a spot on the Ideal Bar in downtown Copenhagen where local rapper, hip hop lecturer and writer, Peter Aagaard will interview Piskor in front of an audience. But wait, there's more! Stick around while DJ's crank up the beats and Piskor puts lines to paper against local talents Stine Spedsbjerg, Erik Petri, and Palle Schmidt, who you might recognize from his work on American comics like Thomas Alsop, and art for Ghostface Killah's 12 Reasons to Die.

A competition combination of hip hop and comics is hard to beat; catch up with your boy Ed Piskor on February 28th, from 6-10 pm (or 18:00 to 22:00 if you're telling time abroad).

What started out as a really cute way for libraries to get patrons to check out books sight-unseen has turned into a pop quiz for Fanta employees about our books. See a description of a book you like? Try to figure out what it is and then click on the link, order it and fall in love.

Ever had a terrible boss? One who never appreciated you or gave you personal space outside of work? SWEATSHOP is all about it. Meet MEL BOWLING, and his team of overworked cartoonists helping him hack out a bad comic strip, Freddy Ferret.

Real-life cartoonist Peter Bagge will be at Arcane Comics tonight at 6pm signing copies of Sweatshop. Complete with an art jam wall, you can immortalize one of your own bad basses or draw one of the bad jobs you've had yourself. Refreshments will be provided (Mel's drinking to that below).

In addition to the many cartoonist characters, Sweatshop also features a cosplayer, often called an "artist's model", who understands a lot of the complaints of today's convention scene.So come down to Arcane Comics in Ballard to get your comics signed by Peter Bagge and show us some horrible stuff your terrible bosses have done, or just draw them with boogers hanging out of their noses.

Johnny Ryan's utterly unpretentious taboo-tackling is an infectious and hilarious bombardment of political incorrectness, taking full advantage of the medium's absurdist potential for maximum laughs. In an age when the medium is growing up and aspiring to more mature and hoity-toity literary heights, Ryan builds on the visceral tradition that cartooning has had on our collective funny bone for over a century. Now, for the first time, all fourteen issues of Ryan's career-defining comic book series Angry Youth Comix (2000-2008) are collected in one place. All the comics, the covers, and even the contentious letters pages, in one toilet-ready brick shithouse.

We know you've been on the edge of your seats waiting for the next volume of Shimura Takako's acclaimed manga series, Wandering Son. Here is our finalized cover art for Wandering Son Volume 8, in which our beloved protagonists continue to navigate through their gender identities while maneuvering through another school year.

Takatsuki-kun works up the courage to go to school in a boy's uniform, and Nitori-kun confesses his desire to wear girl's clothes to Anna-chan, his girlfriend. And Doi-kun, a character of questionable motives, finds himself drawn to Nitori's adult trans friend, Yuki-san...but to what end?

Wednesday is not only New Comics Day in the stores but also new comics day online and on your favorite digital reading device. comiXology has a swank-and-huge list of titles that came out today! Love & Rockets: New Stories #7finds Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez writing and drawing at the top of their game. In Jaime's stories, Maggie and Hopey take a road trip to visit a 'sick friend' while Ray visits some old sick friends of his own. Gilbert offers a suite of stories, including a sweeping epic of derring-do in which Fritz as Morgan Le Fey teams up with Aladdin; a WWII sci-fi thriller and 'Daughters and Mothers and Daughters,' in which flashbacks to Luba's mother Maria reveal how old secrets affect their family today. is $17.99 at comiXology and is also available on the Sequential app.

Peter Bagge's Sweatshop is an intense situational comedy about a newspaper strip "sweatshop" of aspiring cartoonists who are attempting to make it big like their boss, Mel Bowling, but on their own terms. Featuring art also by Johnny Ryan, Jim Blanchard, Stephen Destefano, Stephanie Gladden and Matt Ray; Sweatshop is a must have for the Fantagraphics' fan and anyone who has had a terrible boss. Sweatshop is also available on the Sequential app. In addition you can get Hate 18, now out digitally.

In the sweet follow up to An Age of License, in Lucy Knisley's Displacement recounts the experience of caring for her frail grandparents aboard a cruise ship, while reflecting on her own fears on mortality, her age, and her family's relationships and history. Meanwhile, Noah Van Sciver's latest graphic novel, Saint Cole, is a brutal look into in pathos and the human condition. It follows a dead-ender, Joe, over four days as his life goes from terrible to unraveling at every possible seam, from drinking on the job to a live-in girlfriend and crying baby at home. You can also find both of these titles on the Sequential app.

More serial comics please!

Serialized from the pages of Dungeon Quest Book Three #8 by Joe Daly, we join Millenium Boy, Millenium Boy, Steve, Nerd Girl and Lash Penis mid-adventure. A series of beasts called Womraxes attack the group, ripping off clothes right and left. (and only $1.99 per issue!).

In Dame Darcy's Meat Cake #15, Richard Dirt and Friend the Girl show you exactly how to pass the Zombie Survival Test before Dame Darcy takes a trip around the world gathering local lore like the Chupacabre of Texas and the Science Un-Fair. Plus, get your munch on with her finest raw food recipes! It's one of the best one hundred and ninety-nine penny dreadfuls you can get!

Bagge's HATE #18 has the Bradley home in Jersey is bursting at the seams with little birdies who tried out their wings, landed in a bloody heap on the ground, and limped back into the nest. The newest re-addition to the family unit: Butch. Buddy's errant little brother is discharged from the Navy, due in large part to his chronic alcoholism, and he heads straight for the nearest port - home sweet home. His constant belligerent presence makes life even more difficult for Buddy and Lisa, who are having a hard enough time of it as it is. Needless to say, things wind up coming to an ugly head between Buddy and Butch, and nothing is resolved as a result, since such is the nature of adult siblings. Now and forever, in full and glorious FantacolorTM from cover to cover!

Los Angeles - Get ready for a powerhouse exhibit, LA. A new exhibition of works by Robert Williams will be on display for SLANG Aesthetics! presented in conjunction with 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz Magazine, opening at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery on February 22nd. The godfather of surrealist art and underground cartooning, Robert Williams will be unveiling 25 new oil paintings to celebrate his breadth of work as an artist as and the founder of Juxtapoz Magazine, celebrating an accomplished 20 years of print. This will be his first LA exhibit in over a decade, and is being presented in conjuction with the beat of a book, The Complete Zap Comix.

The work of Williams and of others in Zap has been seen and felt in some of the biggest cartoonists of the past several decades. And Juxtapoz, continues a tradition of shedding light on influential and new artists spanning as many artistic genres that you can shake a stick at. Juxtapoz will feature the work of nearly 100 artists that have been selected because of their cultural influence on other, and how you can see the continuation of shared artistic motivation.

Curated by Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace and Gary Pressman of Copro Gallery, the show will open on February 22nd, and run until April 19th. There is a special VIP Preview Reception on the 21st, an RSVP to
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is required.

Guy Colwell's comic book serial Inner City Romance appeared in 1972, illustrating the unvarnished reality of an emerging urban counterculture. As Matt Gonzalez observes in Juxtapoz magazine, "Colwell's art is motivated by two primary sentiments: first, a deep political strain meant to expose and offer commentary on political, economic, and racial disparities that exist in our society, and second, an awareness of man's uncomfortable relationship with nature and sexuality."

The exhibition of original pages, prints, paintings and drawings by this accomplished artist is one of many highlights of the Georgetown Art Attack. Spend a romantic evening in the enchanting industrial arts district of Georgetown. Visit Fran's Chocolates new factory across the street from the bookstore, explore art studios and galleries, enjoy dinner and drinks at one of two dozen bars and restaurants, and encounter spontaneous spectacles all over the historic neighborhood.

Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.), minutes south of downtown Seattle. Open daily, 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

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